


N7 Training

by Izrador



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-14 20:33:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3424679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izrador/pseuds/Izrador
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is how I see the N7 training in the eyes of male Shepard. I wrote this ages ago (probably has some errors) and is my first fanficition. </p><p>Please leave feedback as I could do with the help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	N7 Training

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first fiction and will be a oneshot unless people want to read more.

If someone had told me the N7 training was easy I would laugh. It is day one of training and I find myself on a shuttle on the way to an unknown location with a suit on and an oxygen tank. We have been told nothing of our training however I can only guess what they have in store for us. I seem to be the youngest soldier here, some veterans around who have been in the first contact war. Some are placing bets on who will fail the first part of the training and so far I am the candidate who seems to fail because I am the youngest and least experienced soldier in the squad. My biotic implant has been taken out to make the game fair, my head still hurts from where it was taking out and not feeling the energy around me is odd. It brings me back to my childhood before the incident, I don't want to think that far back though, those memories still hurt.

I look around the shuttle and some people seem nervous, I am quite calm. We learnt that in our initial training into the Military, only a few whispers now as we approach a desert looking planet. Our instructor comes out and instantly everyone is silent, my eyes look towards the instructor as he stands to attention. He is muscular built, short brown hair and scars which cover his face from previous battles. 

"Today's goal is to see who can hold their breathe the longest with an oxygen tank. This is not an easy goal and I expect a lot of you to fail this task. Do not feel bad if you do not get through as after all being invited to the N7 training programme is a respectable achievement. As we touch down and leave the shuttle it begins." He spoke in a surprisingly soft voice.

We all stand up and I can feel my nerves starting to build up, I feel a hand placed on me and I glance up to see who it is, my instructor.

"I have high hopes for you kid, just remember your training." He whispered to me.

The shuttle touches down and we place the helmets on and this is where it begins, I begin to hold my breathe, I can see someone struggling to put their helmet on and they were instantly dismissed. I walk away from the shuttle and take a small breathe, reading my oxygen levels to make sure it is not going to waste. Slow and shallow breathing I repeat to myself. Someone to my right has had a panic attack and they are taking away, another fail. There were twenty of us and the numbers have dropped to eighteen. The older soldiers seem to be having no problem but I'm not nervous anymore as I am not the first one out and my oxygen levels are fine. I know these tanks hold 4 hours worth of oxygen if you use them properly so this is going to be a long period.

This seems to be going on for entity and I feel my lungs are cramping up, there are five of us now and I take a sharp breathe as I feel a tear fall down my face. I look at my oxygen tank, thirty minutes left. I think I manage to surprise everyone but this pain is making my headache worse. I wonder what long the other people have left of their oxygen. My breathing has became slightly shallower and my chest is hurting, I close my eyes to focus. I hear some movement and a person has collapsed, then there was three. 

Ten minutes left of my oxygen and two of us are left, my determination has increased as well as the pain I am feeling. The other person seems to be struggling as well which makes me happy but still I must fight on. 

My oxygen levels are depleted so I hold my breathe, as painful as it is. I refuse to lose, I am not going to do it. I want to take a gasp but I know it will do me no good. At last the other person collapses and I am left, the only one. I feel like I am floating in space right now and heading towards a planet, it hurts so much. I feel myself being dragged into the shuttle and my helmet ripped off me. I take a deep breathe as I feel myself being able to breathe, a few comments and my instructor spoke to me in my half dazed state, "You are now an N2 candidate. Congratulations Shepard, for the rest you will be sent back to your relative bases, some of you done extremely well but not good enough to be an N2." 

He continued to speak but my head is throbbing and I move my hand to the back of my head to notice some blood where my implant was taken out. I feel slightly dizzy, before anything else I am sick. I can hear the instructor laughing, "I was waiting for that to happen." He pulled me up and placed me on the seat, "Try to not breathe so much." 

The rest of the journey was silent, most people are disappointed. I eventually dose off, I am dreading N2 training but I did myself proud. We touch down to base and I walk over to the place I call home, some people are packing their stuff away, we were split off from the other candidates to minimise the group sizes so at some point ill be with my new group. I decide to have a shower, get my head clear for further training. As I'm walking through I can see people chatting to others over the computers and I feel a spike in my heart, my world was destroyed and the only thing I have been working on is my career. I carry on until I hit the showers.

I was a lonely person, I didn't make friends since Mindoir as I couldn't lose people again. It was a quick shower, quickly changing and heading towards the mess hall. I decided to leave my implant alone as none of my N7 training required it just yet. Mess hall was always awkward and I grab something which is meant to be food and sit. As a biotic you tend to eat more then others, the staff knew that but I refused to eat more. Some people across me are talking about the N1 training and I just eat my food slowly, my stomach is still upset by my training. After food I have to head to a room so the N2 training can be discussed, I guess there is more risk in this one.

I find a seat near the front, not interested in any company surrounding me. The instructor came out, silence again occurred and he spoke, "Well done for passing the easy stages. Tomorrow you will spend a week in some harsh environments, you will have to work in a team of three. Set up camp, complete missions and the one to do it all first will become N2. To make training harder I will pick the teams so you aren't stuck with your new friends." He pulled out a rota, "Team One is Andrews, Scott and Smith. You are now dismissed." He kept on saying names and dismissing teams finally my name is called out, "Davis, Shepard and Lewis you are Team Ten, good luck." We got up and left, I knew I would have to take command of this team, it felt natural and these people did not seem as fit as me. I head back to my bunk and sleep, I was going to need it.

We left around 0500 hours and I sat with my team, each of us holding bits of equipment and guns. I was awaken at 0300 hours to have my implant placed back in, I was foolish to think I would not need it. Whilst on the shuttle the instructor shouted my name and I walked over, "We know you have been training more with your biotics, only use them for an attack and nothing else. You will have no gun to make it more fair. Test your implant and any problems let me know." 

"Yes sir." I responded and began to manipulate the energy around me. Some people were staring, I was the only biotic on camp and some have never met one before. I have a small smile as I practised. 

Touch down occurred again and my team left the shuttle, a quick glimpse at the map and we started to hike, the wind felt pretty rough but I was confident with this task. "Keep your guard up, we know where we have to be so keep pushing and we will set up camp as soon as we scouted out the area." 

"Ok Shepard." One of my team members replied, they obviously preferred taking orders. We reached a valley and I began to look around the area, we split up slightly to cover all areas. 

"Clear." I heard in my earpiece, "Heading back to base now." A female voice called back.

Setting up the tent was easy, I was teamed up with two female soldiers who were from Earth. We all set up the tent and started discussing the plan, "I'll keep watch whilst you too sleep." I simply stated. Of course an argument would occur from this.

"Why because you are better then us women?" I think it was Davis who said it. 

"I don't sleep all that well at night." I admitted, avoiding eye contact. None of us knew each other, only small talk which I kept out of, "I am a Mindoir child so you can imagine what my nightmares are about." I whisper quietly, the secret was out about my antisocial attitude. Thankfully no one said anything else. I help set up the sleeping beds and then the females were complaining about getting changed in the same tent as me, I sigh quite loudly and guessed the instructor teamed me up with females on purpose and no one knew much about me. I smile slightly and laughed, "Don't worry women don't interest me in that sort of way." I felt my face go red, this felt too personal to discuss. I knew the instructor could listen in, homophobia still occurred nowadays however xenophobia was even more popular.

The girls seemed rather surprised as I did not 'look like a gay man' I face palmed at this. The whole social interaction thing was odd to me, six years after Mindoir and I only began to casually socialise, maybe this is what the instructor wanted. I am never too sure, "We have an early start tomorrow so get some shut eye, I'll awake you." I wished them goodnight as I head out to watch the sunset. 

I miss the weight of holding a gun, I begin to patrol the surrounding area making sure my team was safe. This was going to be a relatively easy mission in my mind that is if my team could keep up with me. As my mind was drifting up I heard a noise quite close to camp, it was quite dark. I did not want to use the torch as my eyesight would be ruined due to them adjusting to the dark. I follow the sound and see a pack of other soldiers, I smirk so this was test one. I guessed we were all given different missions, maybe this was an all out war. I heard them chatting quietly.

"This is gonna be an easy target. I bet this camp is all asleep." A male whispered.

"Especially that biotic freak not having a weapon." Laughter occurred.

So bullets may hurt if I get shot but after all it wouldn't be the first time I was introduced to a bullet. I focus my attention to the group and begin to charge up my biotics. Before any screams I charged into one of the people and then slammed my fist to the ground causing the biotics to knock them to the ground. All the soldiers were down and I walked over to see the damage.

"Fuck!" One of them shouted angrily. 

"Team two is now eliminated." I heard in my earpiece and I walked away, back to camp.

The rest of the night was relatively quiet, I saw the sun rising and decided to wake up my camp. It was time to make a move. As the women awoke and placed their armour on and began to clean up camp, packing away. I take a quick stim to make sure I was awake enough to carry on. One of the females took out her omnitool for today's mission.

"So today we got to investigate a crash site, the location is around thirty miles north from here." This time Lewis spoke.

"So a hike then?" Davis replied, she wasn't exactly the brightest spark but she had to be here for a reason. 

"Yes. I see Team Two is eliminated, anything to do with you Shepard?" Lewis asked.

I gave a smile, "Yeah." I pick up my bag and throw it on my back as we begin to walk, "They weren't exactly quiet so I managed to knock them out." I decide to walk behind my group as they begin chatting amongst themselves. I begun to wonder what the other missions given out were as the last thing I wanted was an ambush. 

We didn't stop once whilst walking which I was grateful for as it meant we could carry on. After a good few hours we finally arrived and I began to scout out the area with my team, pretty easy. I noticed another group running towards the crash site and we managed to take them down. "Team Four eliminated." Our team simply high fived each other and begun to check out the site, obviously a fake one. We found a note which gave us our next objective for tomorrow and yet again we set up camp this time Davis and Lewis were switching shifts.

We had a quick dinner and I laid in bed, I wasn't that tired but I needed to be fully prepared for tomorrow. I got up to strip of my armour and place it neatly beside me, Lewis was in the room with me who was also stripping off.

"You have been very quiet." She simply stated.

I shut my eyes, "I haven't needed to socialise before. My aim is just to get the mission done." I respond.

"It isn't healthy not speaking to anyone. I know what happened in Mindoir, I was part of the recovery crew. It was my first mission." She sounded quite saddened.

"I try not thinking about it. I lost everyone. Watched my family die and I didn't fight, I ran like a damn coward. I could never go back there, too much death." I don't feel upset I feel mainly anger at myself and about how weak I was, "I will make sure this never happens again to any colony." 

"Sorry for bringing it up. So do you have anyone waiting for you anywhere?" She asked in a calm tone.

"No, I prefer it that way. I don't have friends as friendships can end with a bullet." 

"Well you might as well try otherwise your life will be lonely and miserable. Anyhow night Shepard." 

"Night." I responded and began to drift off. 

Screaming, crying, burning. A young man running with tears in his eyes. Running for those trying to take him away, a bullet in the leg didn't slow him down and he found the forest, hiding. His family being burnt alive for the entertainment of the aliens.

I wake up quickly and dash outside, I must of scared Lewis who was now on guard as I felt a bullet hit me. I look around the area dazed, scared. This isn't Mindoir and I start to calm down. Lewis is apologising to me as she placed medigel on my leg. Davis by this time is outside.

"What the fuck happened?" She seemed rather annoyed.

"A nightmare." I responded, "Come on we should make a move."

*

After a few days there was only three teams left and we were on the last mission. We had not slept for two days, none of us could as we had to attack the other camps and they were attacking us. I decided to ditch the equipment and we would sleep rough, no luxuries given. We managed to find Team Nine camp so we attacked it. "Team Nine eliminated, two teams remaining, Team One and Team Ten. Good luck." We had a quick celebration and went on the hunt for the last team.

This team seemed to be matching us on destroying the other teams and they were always just trailing behind us. A new mission came in and we had to run to the home shuttle, with no idea where the other team was we began to sprint. We were tired, hungry and thirsty however this kept is going as we knew we could not lose. In the distance we saw the shuttle and sped up, on the other side I saw Team One and the two girls aimed down their sights of their guns and took a few shots, I charged into the other one. All three of them were taken down, they looked really pissed off. I began to run back to my team and we walked the rest of the way. "Team Ten congratulations you won."

My team and the last two teams boarded the shuttle and I could see how pissed off they were. It was plain silence until we got back to camp. We were given the rest of the day and the day after off to relax. I walked over to the showers, glad that the camping was over. At least now I could try relaxing and bringing my attention back to training.

As I reached the showers I saw Team One and Team Four in there, they were annoyed however I just walked over to a shower and ignored their ranting. I couldn't be bothered hearing it, as I reached it I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder, I went to use my biotics and was thrown to the ground by another two men. 

"Careful this little shit is a biotic. It's embarrassing enough that he is far younger than any of us." 

I felt pain as I was punched and kicked. I could taste blood as I was stomped on and let out a painful cry, surely these people couldn't be soldiers. I heard the sound of a switch blade being pulled out and I panicked, trying to break free of the grip. The worrying thing was I could not use my biotics as my head was bashed and I was pretty sure they cracked my skull. 

"Not so strong now are you?" One of the people laughed.

I stared as someone hovered over me with the blade and put it close to my face, "We are gonna make sure you will remember this day you little bastard. We are gonna fuck up your Military career." He took the blade and dug it into my eyebrow and slowly moved it down, my eye was forced open by this mans free hand.

I couldn't help but scream in pain, it burnt so much and the pain was so intense. I was hopeless once again, I could feel the blade coming closer to my eye and I tried to move but I was pinned down. I wanted to throw up at that point and there it was the blade went through my eye and I couldn't see, I could feel the blood pouring down my face and he finished marking my face when he hit my cheek. They were laughing as I turned on my side and threw up, the water was bloody red and I was in so much pain. Crying and screaming in agony, this must of been the closest to death I have ever been. I felt myself drifting off, footsteps and screaming. My body being picked up, someone whispering it was going to be alright and that is when I drifted off.

*****

I awoke and found myself in the medical room. The pain seemed to be gone but I guessed this was due to the painkillers I was on. I quickly moved my hand to my eye where it was scratched and felt a bandage on it. I began to cry again, I knew I had to hide it but I couldn't I was worried and scared. 

I heard someone walk over and they spoke in such a soft voice, "We will do tests on you once your eye has healed properly. The N7 programme is on hold until the attack has been fully investigated so do not worry about anything."

I wanted to talk but felt myself drifting to sleep again, I hate being put to sleep.

****

I cannot remember how long I was out for but I had less equipment on me and I sat up. I felt the energy field around me and only guessed they replaced my biotic implant. The nurse came over again and smiled. "So far your recovery has gone well but we wanted to test the sight in your right eye." 

I sat up as she walked over and removed the bandage, she began to analyse my eye and she gave off a sad smile. "Shepard can you see out of it at all?" 

I cover my left eye and to my shock all I can see is black and I shook my head, "Is there anything you can do about it?" I already knew the answer to that question.

She sat at the end of my bed, "Your eye is so damaged we cannot repair it. We can however create a false eye to hide the damage, we managed to save part of your eye." She replied.

I just nodded, that attack out of anger could now ruin everything. As I was about to ask another question my instructor walked into the room and read the nurses notes. He looked quickly at me and continued to read. I just sat there in silence, he asked the nurse to leave and he grabbed a chair to sit down on.

"I am giving you one more day in bed then you better get up and complete your training." He ordered and it made me smile, the worry of being kicked out instantly left.

"Yes sir." I responded.

"Good, the people who attacked you are now locked up in a detention centre. We do not allow any form of attack on anyone for any reason. We looked at the footage and even the top brass were shocked. It was our decision if you should continue or be dismissed however considering how much of a great soldier you have proven to be we aren't letting someone destroy your career because on anger." He paused and looked away. "You already have enough on your plate but you will get no sympathy. You got to earn your N7 badge and I hope to God you get it." He got up and left my room.


End file.
